TRANSCRIPT - How to Include Travel Tech in your Lessons with Audra Bishop and Kelley Nicholson

Sound good? Cool. Alright, cool. Good afternoon, everyone. And welcome to tea time. Today I am so excited to have Dr. Audra Bishop and Kelly Nicholson with us. To host RT time. I'm going a little bit slower as we're waiting for an email to go out and see about those that missed our link. But let's go over. What our goal is. And so our goal is to build a community of practice. Get me under. Yep. Okay. To support each other with technology and while we are teaching our technology in all of our various errors, areas as I can talk today. Okay. In the spirit of that goal. We want an interactive session. So if you have a question, you can. Unmute and ask or send it in the chat. And. We are recording this session. To be posted on our website later. And to be housed in our professional development library by registering, you're giving us permission to publish that content that could include your image. Or your voice. Say well. For our session norms, again, feel free to speak up, ask your questions, say your name before you start speaking. And if you have any questions and don't want to speak again, just type them in the chat. I'm going to put the link in the chat. If you want to get the, handouts early. They will be posted on my website as well for after the session. But here's a link to where you can download them now. So I'm gonna hand over that wasn't quite as slow as I thought it was gonna be. But I'm gonna hand this over to Audra and Kelly again. We're so excited to have you guys come host us today. Let me stop my share here. And hand it back over to you. Okay, there we go. There you go. I think they got it on there. Alright. Okay, are you ready? Okay, alright, I'm Audra Bishop. I'm an orientation mobility specialist in Fort Worth ISD. I'm Kelly Nicholson and I'm also orientation mobility specialist in forward. I see also orientation ability specialist in forwards. I see also. And just for fun, we had to come to the Region Service Center to have good enough Wi-Fi to be able to do our presentation about technology today. So, and then we got here and had a lock down so that was fun too. So, but we will get started. We are going to talk about including travel technology in your lessons. And going to kind of go through. A few things first before we get into some of the different things that we're going to talk about. So first of all, just some things to consider before adding technology in your lessons. Age of the student being one, especially if you are using an application or something on a phone and I would make sure that you have talked to the parent because they may not want their child to have talked to the parent because they may not want their child to have access to that. Also the cognitive abilities of your student. I know we all take that into consideration when we're teaching basic ONM skills without technology. But just remember you're adding another thing for them to keep up with and manage and have to filter out all of the sensory information from. So keeping that in mind when you are choosing an app or something like that to use with your students. I also like to look at what other technology are they using. I have some students that use a lot of technology in their classroom and then am I adding One more thing for them to learn and understand on top of everything else. So just what other technology are they using? Is there something that they're already really good at that then you can maybe find something that's not going to be totally new information for them to have to learn everything from. The parent and family comfort level like I said some parents Really don't want their students using some of the applications and things that are out there. So you may have to. Work on introducing those things with the parent present so they understand why you are wanting to do that or have them learn that. Also looking at the outcome you're hoping to achieve. So I wouldn't use a, Google Maps with them if that student is not ready to be out there in the community using Google Maps yet. So what outcome are you hoping that the technology is going to give them? Is it going to enhance the skill that they already know? Is it gonna be learning an entirely new skill with it? And then also your students understanding of the kind of low tech. Comparative skill so can they already do that without technology? Do they know how to do that skill without technology? Because as we all know, technology will fail us. And, so they need to be able to not panic if the technology that they've learned is not working for them. Alright, so when we started putting this together, we looked at a lot of different things. And more just looking at the skills of our students as well as technology. So just keep that in mind. It wasn't just, oh, any kind of technology. And it was if they could use the technology as well. Okay. Alright, and then one of the important things I think to remember is that none of the technology you choose to use with your students should replace their existing mobility. So I don't think that there's a technology, for instance, that can take the place of a white cane and the information it provides. That use of the white pain, but they they need to have some existing mobility skills before you start adding more technology to them. And that's what the second point is and here it should be used to supplement or augment their previously learned skills like maybe they're really good traveler and you want to add something that to make things just a little easier for them. And then accuracy always depends on a variety of factors. So you have to be cautious when you're using technology. So I think you really have to spend a lot of time working for the student with the technology. Don't just turn them loose once they know a little bit about it. Because there's going to be things you're gonna have to problem solve which you'll see an example in here of that accuracy not always being there for them. And then it's important that they understand that technology is great. But it's going to fail at times. It's not going to work properly at times. So they do still have to do the boring low tech stuff also. They have to know how to do that. They have to have a fallback plan. So they get excited about that about technology and that's all they want to do but It's gonna fail them at times because it fills all of us at times. Alright. And I just this was actually in the template that I used and I really liked it. So the way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. So sometimes we spend too much talking and we don't just go and do it and try it. So I like that quote. So we're gonna go over some apps that some that we've used, some that we haven't used and a lot, but also we would love to see if once we get finished with all the ones that we'd like to see if once we get finished with all the ones that we would like to see if once we get finished with all the ones that we show you, if there's any others that you like, please put it in the chat or say something. We're always willing to learn more apps that you've used with your students that are successful so that we can all share. And more apps that you've used with your students that are successful so that we can all share. Before we put this together like, hey, what are you using with your students? We have some people who are with adults. What are you using that you've actually found works is helpful, isn't too overwhelming, and we kind of just took those top like 5 or 6 from them to talk about today, but then at the end you'll see I have links to of course I'm sure all of you know Chris Tab and his live binder he has got links to and like a list of I think just about everything that's out there. But in an hour's time, there's no way for us to cover everything. So like Kelly said, we we are going to talk about things that we have actually used with our students. That we have found helpful and then if there are things out there that you're using, we would love to hear about that as well. Okay. So first one is seen AI. And you'll see as we go through this, we kind of just put Like what are some of the pros about it? What are some of the good things about these? What are some of the things that we have encountered that maybe are not great or could be limiting? So some of the good things about CNI, it's free. We love free. I'm sure you all love free. So if it's free and it works, we love it. It can describe nearby people, it can read some text like a text reader, it will describe objects, it has a cache reader, I have not used the cash reader, I was going to do that today, but then we ended up in a lockdown. I was gonna test it out. And we ended up a lockdown. I didn't get to do that. But it's it's fairly simple to use. Now, it's only available on iOS devices. Right now, so it's not available for Android. So it's not available for Android. But lookout is a similar app on Android. I just don't have an Android, but lookout is a similar app on Android. I just don't have an Android, so I have not used Lookout, the descriptions whenever you do take a picture of a scene or like an intersection or something like that doesn't always provide I feel enough usable information. So they would still need to use it in conjunction with their auditory skills and their previously learned skills for that to be able to know. Where they are what that is. And just for an example just for fun when I was with a student. Couple of weeks ago I took a picture of this intersection that we go to all the time and you can see the description it gets that it is a street with a stop sign and a poll with Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the background. And it's, it is a picture of a street with a stop sign on a pole. It's got a light pole next to it. There is no Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the background. It is a residential neighborhood. So this was just an example that it's not always reliable. It's not always gonna give the exact information. So going back to your students cognitive abilities, are they going to be able to understand that? Are they gonna realize this is a street I come to all the time and there is no Vietnam veterans memorial here I know. Or if they're in an unfamiliar area, they may be expecting to run into some park there and there is no park it's just houses on the other side of that street So that was, just something that I had noticed with it in using this app that sometimes the information is not accurate. Sometimes it's also very basic information. Like if you take a picture, it might say there's a white dog. Okay, but no other scene information to give there so it may not give enough information for some. So this, I can say I have not used this with a student. Audra has used it with an adult. Audra has used it with an adult, client that she's had. And From what I know about it, it's really awesome and it's actually pretty helpful for those that are very good travelers and they're traveling and crossing streets at lighted intersections. Some of the pros, it is very easy to use. You just open up your the app and you start you just point it and there's actually a video. We're not going to play the video, but I want you all to know that it is at the bottom of the screen. You can play the video, but I want you all to know that it is at the bottom of the screen. You can, click on that link and it'll give you like a little 10 min video of just how to use the app and and it gives a demonstration of someone crossing a lighted intersection. And like how, where to hold the phone and all that good stuff. And it does include visual, haptics and audio. So if you're deaf line, you can use the haptics and has that visual clue queue or the low vision or then audio for those that are totally blind. And you can adjust all the settings and it's pretty simple to adjust the settings in the app itself. And another really cool thing if you have a student or an adult that veer a lot when they travel, it does have that main it has a little Is it the hectic like it vibrates and it vibrates and it has you so if you're thinking of an audible traffic signal and a light intersection, it is mimicking that audio. So if that audio, if that audible signal is not working or you're at an intersection that is so busy with traffic that you're student or client cannot hear the audible signal. This app gives them something in their hand that's going to give them the haptics that mimics the countdown. It against the haptics and the audio of don't walk walk the visual is like an overlay a red or a green overlay on their screen and you don't have to be super accurate with where you're pointing your camera as long as you're holding your phone and it sees that the crosswalk sign across the intersection, it's gonna pick up and immediately start giving you the information. So if you veer a little bit, it just stops all of that. And so you can just come right back and it'll pick up again. So that was that is kind of a cool part of it. It's not the only way to maintain line of travel, but it was like it is a cool option that a feature that it has on there. Right. And of course, using your O and M skills first, then using this as a little the con. You can only get it on an iOS. It is not available on Android. Now we do here. They're working on getting it on an Android. So their future will just you just have to keep looking for it on their website and it does say that they are working on getting. Get it in on it. Audra and Kelly, Laurie asked if that was the icon on the screen for Oko. Yes, I'm sorry that is the logo for each of these apps. That's the app logo. I tried to put it on there to make it easy to find if you are looking in your app store. On there so that is the icon for Oako and it is I have talked to one of the founders of it several times because with my adult client they do not have an iOS device. They have an Android. So I just asked, are there any plans? And at the time, they're like, well, there's a lot going on and we're trying to do other things. But then as other O and M's that I know have, used it and they reached out to some people at the VA and some other people. They are working on releasing. They are working on getting it to be available for Android and also to make it more available. Cause it originally came from Scandinavian countries, which is where the name comes from. Oko is I in Scandinavian language. So, so they are working on adding features and getting it more widely available. So I would be happy to ask them to release it in Canada. To make it available in Canada. I don't know what's involved in that, but I will let them know that we did this training and we talked about their app and they need to release it. For more people. They are also planning when I say add features, they do have plans. Right now it's only good for. Traffic light controlled intersections, but they are planning to add features like residential street crossings, being able to scan and identify the different types of intersections to give people that feedback. And so they do have plans to keep adding features to it. And right now it's free and I that's their plan is to keep it free and like I said before we love free. Especially as teachers we definitely love free. There is a link, at the bottom of this screen that you can click on to what it is a 10 min video. That's why we're not going to watch the whole thing. But it walks you through the different settings and how easy it is to set up and then actually show someone with a visual impairment using it to cross at an intersection. You could even pad your phone on a land yard around your neck so you don't have to hold it while you're crossing. It's just something that it's one I found that was so simple and easy to use and I have several students who are deaf blind as does Kelly and that's always an issue. With the audible signals they usually can't hear it. It's very confusing with the traffic and everything else. It's hard enough just to analyze traffic and then. It just be able to hear it well. So having the haptics and I and it's loud. So if you have a student who has some hearing, they're gonna be able to hear it and feel it and it really does vibrate. So it is a it is a cool app. So something to check out if you have an iOS. And I promise I will keep pestering them to add features and make it available. Because I love it. So. Alright, what do I have next? It keeps not wanting to, okay. And then I think we all use this probably. Google Maps. And that is the Google Map, icon also on there. There's a lot of pros to it. There are some cons to it. I like to use it. And I also like to tell my parents to turn it on when they're driving, even if they know where they're going, just to let the kids hear it in the car and hear the information it gives in kind of a Safe setting so they're not having to travel and process that information, but they're getting to hear the directions and what it gives. So it is available on iOS and Android, which is good. It's free. It gives routes for walking, driving, and transit. So it can tell you where a bus stop is at. It can give you I've turned it on whenever I'm just walking in residential neighborhoods with students just so they can hear the information. It gives cardinal directions and street names. Sometimes it pronounces the street names a little funny, but that can be entertaining. But it is good to back up those cardinal directions you may be working on inside of school or around a school or in a neighborhood. And you can use the camera on it to scan buildings and sites. Which I don't know if people knew that. You can do that. So some of the, cons on Google Maps as I'm sure if anyone's walked using Google Maps before. The directions can lag. And it'll tell you something, the directions can lag. And it'll tell you something maybe as your passport, yeah, as you're like walking around by maybe 10 to 15 s after you passed it. So it'll cause, you know, the person to miss lane marks for information that they're needing. So that's kind of a bummer, but you can always turn around and use your skills to reverse your route. It sometimes does give you unnecessary information. It sometimes does give you unnecessary information. And you don't need to know that there's a Taco Bell, and you don't need to know that there's a Taco Bell, unless that's what you were looking for, but you don't always need all of that extra information. And that's what you were looking for, but you don't always need all of that extra information. And sometimes it does give a lot. And I know for some of my students, knowing that they're having all of that information, it's more distracting. They would like to just know when I get to the street and when, you know, getting to that street crossing. So that's, that's another thing that I don't like about Google Maps, but. For some students, I think maybe even some of Audrey's might feel differently than the student that I'm specifically talking about. And then if your phone is not updated, it may miss important information and I don't think people realize that if your phone is you still need like for updates and you still got the little red dot that makes me crazy. You're not going to get all of the information that you might need for the walking, driving for the transit. I use it on the bus zone with students just to keep them listening, paying attention to what's going on when our first learning how to, you know, ride the bus. Just for all of that information because it is really a good source to just sit like and like Audger said that safe time to really just sit and listen to what's going on in their environment and kind of give them those, you know, directional. Please. So and with the phone. Kelly and Audra, this is Donna. Shay asked. If you like Google Maps better than Apple Maps. I haven't used Apple Maps very much, so I've used Google Maps more. And so that's why we chose that to talk about because we both use Google Maps more than we've used Apple Maps. Also with the phone not being updated, it's also if you have an older version of the phone, sometimes it doesn't work the same also. It doesn't work well because it's not updated either. So that can also be a case but I mean, and say I'm guessing you're just talking about the regular Apple Mac on your phone. I've used it. I use it every day when I go somewhere, but I don't use it actually for travel. I've only used the Google Maps. And one thing that I will note in a downtown setting, if you're like writing public transportation in a downtown setting with all those tall buildings, I have noticed it tends to lag in those situations and it's hard sometimes to hear the announcement on the bus about the the next stop and then if your Google Maps is lagging sometimes you miss a stop because I've had a student totally miss a stop and then end up having to get off at the next stop and then reverse and try and figure out where they were at and backtrack and that that can be that can be stressful. It's a good learning opportunity with a good traveler but it can be very stressful if you're not right there with them when it happens. Alright. Yeah, so tap, see, I'm gonna tell you funny story at the very end of this, but a couple, a couple of funny story at the very end of this. A couple, a couple of funny stories about tap, see. Some of the pros and are it's available on both operating system so that's great and that is also free. Some of the pros and are, it's, available on both operating systems. So that's great. It's available on both operating system. So that's great. And that is also free. It does a, available on both operating system. So that's great. And that is also free. It does a, you have a picture and then like short video recognition. So whenever you are actually like put the phone up, it can do both and it will provide you a short description of scenes in or images. Some of the kinds you you can use it with voiceover but you don't have to if you're low vision you can use it without but it does work better with your voice over on your phone. And then the lighting can definitely impact the accuracy of descriptions. I was showing my neighbors who are, little. We were all sitting in the hot tub and so the little boys asking me, hey, I want to see all your apps on your phone. And so we've pulled up Tap, and I showed him what it did, took a picture of him. He's very much a boy and it's said little girl in water. So not always accurate. And then when we were at Madras actually preparing for this, we took a picture of her dog and it just said a white dog on a Was it a gray floor? Yeah. And she doesn't have a gray floor. So it's just, it was strange. So it doesn't always give those accurate descriptions and her like the lighting on the floor was darker than where we were sitting. And so it didn't give a good description. So those are things to just keep in mind when using I don't necessarily use it for travel, but I would use it maybe if we were in a store using for some of those ECC times that we need to use an app maybe even to look at a a price tag or something, you know, at Walmart or at the grocery store or something like if they're looking like for a specific brand of product, it could help with that. The same thing with seeing AI, it can do the same thing. It can read a label or like a price tag or something for you. So those can be helpful in when you get to a location and you're trying to shop or something like that. This is, I'm gonna let you talk about the time. It's stressful for me, but it is it is a good app and It's called, I don't, I'm not really sure how to say it. Lazaro is what I've always called it, maybe Lazarillo and anyone has a way that they pronounce it, please share. But it is available on both of your operating systems. It gives very detailed turn by turn guidance. It will give you those nearby locations kind of like Google Maps does. It'll tell you where food places are. Health care, transit stops. It'll take you where the bank is, but it tells you every single thing along the way along the way. Only on one side of the street. So that gets down to a con. But if you do have some customizable settings, you can do it in feet. You can do it in, blocks. You can do it, say feet, blocks meters. And I don't use meters, so meters is, not something I would use. But it is a very complicated screen if you're not really good at using voice over and I can say I'm not really good at it. And so it is it's a very complicated setup on the screen. And but it does give you a lot of information. And like it says on our PowerPoint, sometimes too much. And like I, like I said earlier, it only provides that one set of street your own. So my student, I work out. In white settlement, Texas. And if we were in on a street, it was giving him every single place. It was giving, you know, the Taco Bell, the take 5 oil change place. It was, you know, as we were going down the street, but he was looking for the water burger that's across the street. So at that point I realized Oh, this isn't going to help him because he didn't know that it was across the street. So then I said, okay, well, we're going to cross the street and then we'll find it. And then he was able to find the water. But I realized that that point that the Lazaria wasn't going to be maybe the best option for him to travel if he didn't know the area a little bit better. And that sometimes this stuff we figure out as we're out with our students and everything I have not had a student that was able to use this app yet. It's been way too much information for most of my students and so I just haven't been able to use this. They've been able to do a little bit with Google Maps, so I just haven't been able to use this. They've been able to do a little bit with this. They've been able to do a little bit with Google Maps, but this is more complicated than they were. They're able to do a little bit with Google Maps, but this is more complicated than they were. And I'd say this would Gotta have, you know, a good high cognitive level because this is a little bit harder app to use. I turned it on with one student and about 30 s and they're like, let's turn that off because that is too much like it was overwhelming the amount of information it was providing them and they couldn't filter out what they needed to pay attention to. Alright, and then I think we all, I mean, I think a lot of us have used these, services and it's great to have Uber and Lyft as an available. Transportation Service for our students. For Uber it's great it's door to door so they're not having to walk down to a bus stop and wait for a bus stop. They can, you know, stay in the building or at the wherever they have like the Uber setup at if they're at an event or something. It's available on both. If they're at an event or something. It's available on both iOS and Android. It's available on both iOS and Android. Compatible with voiceover and talk back. I did find out that writers with disabilities can request fee waivers, which is a good option. Because I know a lot of my students will be like, well, I don't want to use the public bus. I, the city bus. I'll just use Uber. How are you going to pay for Uber? It's not cheap, right? So going through that process of getting a fee waiver or reduced fee for, them would be helpful. I do like that they have a verify your ride with a PIN number. I use it myself when I use Uber but it is an option for our students. So it gives you a unique PIN number, only you and the driver have it. So they know when they're getting into a car if this is the correct Uber or not because they have to give that PIN number and get verified before they get into the car. So they know they're getting into the right vehicle. It is more expensive than public transportation and the unknown is the drivers. You don't know if you're gonna get a driver who speaks English well or who is going to be cognizant and aware of someone with a disability. They Uber says they try to match people up who are comfortable with that, but you just never know. So you so you do kind of have that unknown feature when you're using that service. You think you Yeah, okay. Okay, so and then on lift. And same as Uber. Of course, it's a door to door, and same as Uber, of course, it's a door to door ratcher, service. Available on both of the course of the operational systems. Also compatible with voice over and talk back and it can share the location and set a check in option. I kind of like that better for our blind and visually impaired just because you're able to know exactly where your driver is going to be and exactly where you're going to be picked up. That I guess that's one of the things on Uber I had a person like Kane day when it was in the stockyards here in Fort Worth a few years ago and Uber came and there were tons of blind people there. And of course she put on there, well I'm a blind person with a cane. Well, they were like 50 and she couldn't see the little car and didn't know the color of the car and all of that. So because it was bright outside. So there was just a lot of you know opportunities to fail in that exact situation had a side person not been with her she would not have been able to get into the correct Uber because they were they were lining up. But the another cons it is still more expensive than public transit. You have to be 18 or older to use Lyft and they do not offer the safety PIN number for verification. Here, they use LIP more than they use Uber. If that's not true, you all speak up. And then with Uber, Shanna did tell us, right, if that's not true, you'll speak at. And then with Uber, Shannon did tell us, right, or Alicia told us right before, we logged in for the presentation that they, they also have added a feature where the teenagers can be under their parents account. So someone under 18 can use Uber under their parents account. I haven't explored to see what all of the. Parameters are for that if there's other safety features involved with that or not. So, and I was just reading some of the comments in here. Laurie put just on Uber, the passenger can remotely share their ride with others also. So she was able to watch her daughter go from Kiro airport to the Airbnb. So that's awesome. That's good info. Thank you. Yes, that makes me feel a little better than just, you know, like go get in someone's car. And then Joanna, if you want to tell us that the name of That's a real. Lazaria. Okay, Lazaria. Hello. You have to roll your R. Liza Leo. Okay, I was right. Good. Okay, good. Alright, so those are just some other options for traveling other than a city bus, especially in some places where maybe a city bus is not an option. So we do have those. This is a really simple app that actually Kelly told me about. Good for your low vision, students not going to help me about. It's good for your low vision, students not going to help a student to his blind because there is no sound with it. Students not going to help a student to his blind because there is no sound with it. Maybe I should reach out to them and see if they'll add sound. But it is just a very simple large display compass. So if you're working on cardinal directions with the student with low vision, this is a great app to have where they can double check. Am I, am I really facing North? You know, they can double check with this. It's very simple to use. This is the, icon for it. And that's why I wrote on their simple large display compass is what you would search for to. To be able to download it and it takes up the whole phone screen with the, with the, cardinal direction. So, and it's got good contrast and simple. So it's just one that I threw in there because it might be a place to start for a kid that's just starting to use some technology like, hey, let's add this in there so we can double check and you can use technology to double check those cardinal directions. And then they can show off for their parents. So, and then I had to throw this one in there because it's like the tried and true low tech or lower tech option. Is using a monocular or a telescope. So, easily portable. And less likely to have a mechanical malfunction unless as we discovered at the zoo one time. If they go to shove it in their pocket and they push it down on the lens with their thumb. It's probably gonna break. We discovered that. So have to teach them a little bit of the care of the monocular with that. And for a con, it's another thing to keep up with. Maybe they have a cane, they have this, they have that. Then they have a phone, then they have a monocular. So it just gets to be, it can be get to be a lot to keep up with, without different things to help you travel. And it can only go the distance you're vision can handle. Was the easiest way that we describe that. So depending on the strength of the monocular and the person's vision it may not be able to really give them. A far distance for. Help with travel. Did you have anything else? Okay. Okay, I know it's not wanting to. I'm gonna let Kelly talk about this and this is one of her favorite things since she has several students that use these so I do so tactile mass another one of her favorite things since she has several students that use these so I do so tactile maps another low tech option and just example I have several students that use these so I do so tactile maps another low tech option and just example I have a student who I've. So tactile maps, another low tech option. And just example, I have a student who I've been with since he was in the fifth grade and just example I have a student who I've been with since he was in the fifth grade and he is now a software in Very long and hard and tedious days of learning tactile maps because whenever he is not only Almost totally blind, but he's also, hearing impaired as well. So hearing traffic, he was not able to hear like that left turn signal. He's never really understood traffic. His family's never really talked to him about traffic. So we went from basics of north, southeast and west on a textual map to what a regular intersection would look like, just a regular plus sign intersection all the way up to now he knows when traffic can, when they turn in left turn signals. When if it's a left turn signal on its own or if it's a double left time signal, he can do them all. And I have to say that using the textual map has helped him so much because he really didn't understand. Any idea about turning traffic and he was like, watch, I don't even know where they're coming from. So when we did it on the Mac, we actually used the tactile town. I know all of you know about the tactile town. But we would use the little cars and he had fun and when he was little, he wanted to use the dinosaur instead of a car. So whatever works we did it. Now we're we've graduated to cars and so but it's great for carnal directions and even like a block just the shape of the blog trying to get him to go around the block, just the shape of the blog trying to get him to go around the block trying to get. And even like a block, just the shape of the blog trying to get them to go around the block, you know, different types of street crossings, to get them to go around the blog, you know, different types of street crossings. We did a T intersection. We did the plus sign. We did, you know, like a Y intersection when it goes off both directions. And then of course again, the turning. It can be bulky if you gotta take it out on a lesson. I usually turn not to take it on the lesson we prepare before, then we go out to the lesson so I don't have to take it with me. And then or stall textual and it doesn't give you any auditory feedback, but I absolutely love tactile maps and I've just had such good success with them and now one of my seventh graders, we've been working on it to learn the layout of her school. So that's another great thing. To do, not just even out in the community, we can use them for the school. And I can see this being a really good thing if you if you've been using it with the student and then you encounter one of those more complicated intersections that they're really struggling with, it would be really great to go back to a tactile map, it would be really great to go back to a tactile map and hey, let's figure this out together. Let's see how we can explain this out together. Let's see how we can explain this out together. Let's see how we can explain this because sometimes in the moment when you're standing there with them, sometimes in the moment when you're standing there with them and visually you can see all the things to explain there with them and visually you can see all the things to explain doesn't always translate to them and visually you can see all the things to explain doesn't always translate to them to hear and figure it out for themselves. Doesn't always translate to them to hear and figure it out for themselves. So it'd be a good thing to go back and problem solve that come more complicated intersection or sometimes suddenly there's construction at an intersection that they've always been really confident at and that construction may be messing with things. And so you can kind of illustrate that in a tactile map to problem solve with them. So anyway, I like I like it. I just haven't had students yet that I've really been able to take it in transfer. We've done some in classrooms. We're just gonna read some of these comments real quick, make sure I didn't miss anything. Hmm. And we're gonna be done in a few minutes and we'll we tried to plan it where we would have a few minutes for you to ask questions. And also so we we can do that here, in a couple of minutes too. Okay. Now, there we go. Yeah, you can enter a comment in the chat or what like I said in just a few minutes if you if you wanna raise your hand and ask a question you you can do that too. And we'll try to help or if you just want to tell us about something cool you've used, it'd be great. I did put a link in here to Chris Sabs live binder, that has all the technology options. He actually, if you go in there, he has a ton of things in there, but he has some specific to Android, specific iOS, just general O and M travel stuff. Pretty much anything he's ever come across is in there with a link for you to go look and investigate more. Some additional apps that we have used here and there off and on or people mentioned to us blind square is one it's one of the first the O and M travel apps I ever used and it was completely overwhelming to me. I haven't gone back to it to see if it has more functionality ways to manipulate the settings and maybe not have that overwhelming amount of information, but it was one that. Okay, I even I was frustrated listening to all of the information that came through. I have not used it, I'm Ira at all, but I believe it's similar to seeing AI. I have not used it but I know some people have. There is a cache reader app that's just cache reader app that's just cache reader. I know some people have. There is a catch reader app that's just cache reader. The free version of it is just cache reader. The free version of it is pretty basic just to read some general bills. If, if you're an international traveler or one of your students is an international traveler, the cool thing is you can pay for the paid version and it has almost every international currency out there in the entire world that it can recognize and read, which I think is helpful. Even though a lot of places don't even take cash in other countries. In vision AI is another one that was popular and nearby explore. I was never a fan of nearby Explorer, but I know some people have used it successfully. It never really worked for me and it could just be the students I was trying to use it with. It wasn't functional for them. But that was also before they had all these other things that came out. So those were some that I wanted to put in there and I wanted that link to Chris Tabs live binder because there may be stuff in there that you see that would really work for one of your students that we didn't talk about because we've just never had a need to use it. And like I said, there's so many that it's overwhelming to look at all of them. It would take us days to go through all of them and kind of play around and explore with them. Alright, so, and then I can stop sharing and we can take questions if anyone has questions if anyone has questions or comments. Or anything that they. Wanna share that they've used that has been good or something about something we talked about that we didn't know about. Will work too. That's Oh, the silent pause. No questions. You know, it's like, it's like people have questions and then no questions. You don't wanna, yeah, you'll type them if you want to. It's fine too. I did put in there that lift also has a check in. So yeah. Yes, I saw that. So that's good. Yeah. Those I know when those first came out, there was there was kind of no safety feature like that and so every time a student or a family was like, oh, they could just Uber. I was like, So, you know, I just, I worry about people getting taken advantage of, you know, most of my students, they would just go with anyone that was nice to them. You know, most of my students, they would just go with anyone that was nice to them. So. You can also, do the. I know it's I use maps when I do minds because I have an Apple and You can also put in your destination and share from there. Yes. Yeah. Yes. So even if they couldn't find the lift or the one for. For the Uber which would again be safer if they've got it right on the app there. Then they could use it there and share and then that gives. Constant updates on where they are. I use it on a regular basis. Yes. That's a good idea. Does anyone use any apps that they just love that we didn't talk about? Come on, someone's got something. Do I need to call on you? She was one of the ones we texted. Like, what are you using? I see lots of names in here that can contribute. Where did Bill go off to? Bill. It disappeared. Miss Fustle. There is. Yes. Yes, we can. Hey. Can you guys hear me? Okay, cool. So one of the apps, I don't know if you covered it, but the seeing AI app from Microsoft has a ton. Yeah. Of stuff built into one app that you guys were talking about. Including the. The currency. Identifier that's in there. There's a bunch of stuff in there because people don't People don't go through all the channels. Yes. Very easily. It's it's buried like the fourth or fifth channel up there as you're swiping up you'll see current like the currency identifier in there and the only other comment I wanted to make about the Uber stuff with having teenagers be able to ride over now. You don't, be ashamed of canceling a trip if the drivers rating is too low? Like, like most of the drivers are hovering right about like a 4.9, anything like that. But anything If you see 4.8 or less I would cancel the trip and reboot it because they take so many trips and they get so many ratings every day. That a 4.8. There would have to be a few problems in order for you to get down to a 4.8 drivers aren't like writers like if you're a writer and you only ride a couple of times a week a lower rating will will mess you up a lot more quickly but if a driver is getting below a below a 4.8. Okay. It's because they've had some issues there. Because they get at least within a 4 h period they'll get about 20 trips So their rating is like by lower increments. So if they have a if they have a lower rating it There's a reason why that is. So I I would not feel bad about canceling a trip and rebooking to see if you get. A driver with a higher rating to just help on the side of safety. That's that's a good tip too because I think a lot of our students too they don't wanna make anyone mad so they'll just go with it and not look at some of those things so that's a good tip to be working with them on and teaching them on. We didn't talk about seeing AI was the first one we talked about. And I had shared like kind of sometimes how it can give an inaccurate description, but it does have a lot of features on there. That's it's a good app and of course I like that it's free. Okay. Yeah, and they just did an update this past week. There's going to be a bunch of features added to it. Yeah. So I would I would definitely keep an eye on that one because when when you have apps like Be my eyes that are doing artificial intelligence. Everyone's gonna gonna add that stuff into their app. So this thing is only going to get better. Yeah. Yes, yes, and that was another one that Shana had talked about before we started and she said that Be my eyes was adding something that could do the descriptions and everything. I had only used that one as the person receiving the call to help someone who was visually impaired. And, so I didn't know that they were adding more stuff. So I have to check that out now too and see what they're adding to their things too. And any of our ketos that have the envision glasses. This is Donna, by the way. Any that have their envision glasses because we're seeing those pick up a little bit more. There's some AI and recognize scene and and things like that built into the glasses that are really nice. Yeah. I have a question about the Uber, Bill. I haven't used it with a student. Did they not charge you if you cancel? Yes, but you can they'll refund that back to you in the app you just go in there and it gets refunded automatically. Okay. You don't have to like file a complaint or a report or anything like that. You, they ask you for the reason why you canceled and yeah, so they'll refund that. Usually it's just a couple of dollars depending on what city you live in. I've seen it PS lost 3 bucks and I've seen it be as high as like 6 bucks. But they'll refund that to you if you know again you can give them a reason for your cancellation. And again, anything below a 4.8. I have to push that because people hear me say that and they go, what are you a perfectionist? Yes. Okay. Like what do you what are you looking for and no I'm not but it takes it takes so many lower ratings to bring you to a 4.8 when you're getting several a day. You see what I'm saying? So yeah, so. It's a really good point. Yeah. And then I think a lot of people just kind of like fast finger there, you know, just general people who use it a lot, probably just give a good rating and sometimes don't really evaluate. So someone would have had to actually really evaluate to give a low rating to then push it to a 4.8. Yeah, and So. Something happened that was actually like serious. Well, yeah, and for those of you guys that know me or if you don't know me, I'm very aggressive when it comes to safety for kids. Like I'm Probably too aggressive about it if if there is such a thing. But yeah, I'm I'm one of those people that's very outspoken about that kind of stuff. So I don't I don't think I'm being unfair day below 4.8 Joanna, I've seen a couple of people have mentioned soundscapes to me and I've never used it. What were you using it for? Can you tell us? Okay. I was teaching a couple of my younger kids how to breadcrumb a a route. Cause you can drop pins and soundscape. Okay. At least you could. I don't know since somebody else took it over. I don't know if you still can do that, but we were we would drop pins and bird creme a route. Okay. Okay. I'll have to check and see if what if, you know, if it's still available and have some of that play around with it and see, cause that could be helpful too. That sounds good. Alright. Okay. And yes, there is a new version of Soundscape out. You guys that they're updated so you don't have to re download it it's just showing up as a software update on your phone and if you're using Open your headphones. I think that's honestly the best and most comfortable way for somebody to use it because you still have your environmental noises that you can hear. And then you also have your audio that you're hearing through your through your phone. So I like that app a lot and I'm glad people are working on it because it was It was a big deal. It was a big deal that Microsoft was support, you know, they were gonna do away with it. So I'm glad somebody took that over. And I had one more that I wanted to tell you about. Give me a minute. It just slipped. I'm having a senior moment, sorry. That's okay. Wait. Have those regularly. It's been kind of crazy this year. And we did put our contact information, our emails in like the very last slide to if anyone has a question that they just didn't want to ask in the group or anything later. Or just wants to share something later with us is fine too. Oh, I remember. So there was a device that was being used called the Sun. And I just wanted to let you guys know that that company is now. Out of business so they're not going to be selling the yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think I had seen that in Chris's live binder and I went look at it and I think I saw that and I was like, oh, let's not talk about that. So. Yeah. And the app will be going away at the end of the year. December. I just, and I, And I have I guess I have issues with, with technology that adds more sensory feedback. Sometimes it can be very hard to differentiate like some of the smart canes and things like some of those things I'm like it's just like they're already interpreting all this sensory information from their cane and then it's vibrating too and it's doing this and doing that and they're having to differentiate all of that. And it becomes for me, I think it becomes very complicated. And I know there are probably travelers out there that they can just take stuff like that and just run with it. But I always try to look at Is it something that can be used with like more than one student I have or something like that? So Yeah, I love technology and it's also the bane of my existence because it doesn't always work. So that's why I always stress like they have to know those low tech skills to fall back on because that technology is going to break or fail or not be accurate and they have to be able to have something to fall back on. Yeah. Yeah. Or disappear one day as in the Sono bands, which were really cool. But They're gone. And then they're gone. Yeah. Thank you. Take on. Alright, thank you so much Audra and Kelly. For leading today. I in the chat I've put the links to where all of our learning resources are on my site as well as again the course for the Braille note for those of you who are teaching Brown Out, ATIAs page and our suggestions form if we haven't met your content that you would like to hear from T time, you can go to that form and fill out a suggestion. There's also a direct link. Audra and Kelly's handouts from there. So we're gonna kind of skip through some of these slides because they are all in the chat. And we have our upcoming marker calendar. Shannon Pages coming to do Bliss symbols on November second. On November ninth, Stacy Chambers is coming to talk about incorporating switches and active learning. If you haven't guessed active learning is our theme for next month. Katie King from Regent Tennis coming to do connections and active learning with academics transition and ECC. The 20 third holiday, no session on the 20 third and then we'll wrap up the month with Hillary Keys doing active learning tech how to make it and how to use it. Come December, Shannon is going to come back since she's telling us how to pick or how to make vocabulary, we're going to talk about how to pick it and use it in December. And then Anita is coming back to talk to us about AT and music for our students. So definitely look forward to that. And Stephanie Walker is going to wrap up our year with. APH update on December 20 first so we're looking forward to that and now just in time what everyone has been looking for the end of session code the end of session code is 8 1 3, 3, 3. 4, 8, 1. 3, 3, 3. 4. And for those of you that asked, there is no opening code, just the closing code. Thank you for joining us this week. On Teton and we will see you next week. Have a good one, everybody.